I listen to a lot of music and I come across songs probably unintentionally borrowing elements from each other every now and then. One of the most obvious examples I’ve run into lately is the case of i Square vs Calvin Harris though.
First there was Calvin Harris‘ I’m Not Alone, who composed a catchy tune with a melody that just really stuck! Maybe a little too much…
And then there was i Square’s Hey Sexy Lady.
OOPS!
How does this keep happening? Nobody involved at any point said: “hey, you know what, you know why you suddenly felt so inspired with that melody? It’s because you heard it when Calvin Harris’ track was playing somewhere.” Oh, and Magnetic Man’s I Need Air also sounds quite similar.
Or maybe they licensed it. I don’t know. Terribly uncreative though. 😉
Plagiarism?
Another recent scandal is the Usher vs The Simpsons / Homer Simpson situation by the way.
Groove Armada, the famous big beat, electronica and trip-hop producers, are sharing their newest EP freely with their fans through a nifty downloading scheme. One of the guys from Groove Armada recently stated about filesharing that “it’s utterly futile to try and stop people, just like it was stopping people creating mix tapes once they had two decks and a tape recorder”.
You can download Groove Armada’s newest mini-album by clicking hereor on the picture (provided by aeter). All you need to do is enter your age, since the deal is sponsored by Bacardi rum and you have to be above the legal drinking age in your country, and your email address to receive the first song of the album immediately and to acquire the rest later.
This is very interesting to me, since I’ll be doing my final thesis of my bachelor degree very soon and it will be about the future of music distribution. It is very obvious that labels need to adopt new business models and that the old models simply don’t work anymore, since music is going back to being a service, instead of a product, so access is the most important thing. Groove Armada have realized this very well and have started this music distribution campaign which is bound to go viral (it already is).
Apparently Groove Armada spoke about this deal with Bacardi at the MIDEM Conference in Cannes, France where the music business meets every year. Below is an example of one of their chillout songs, for two more famous songs, check out Superstylin (big beat) or My Friend (lounge/electronica) on YouTube.
For Groove Armada’s new mini-EP, click here. If you’re a music lover like me, also have a look at The MiX-Files where I post my DJ sets as Spartz (for drum ‘n bass), spacescape (experimental & psychedelic), and EvilAngle (house/eclectro/breakbeat).
BasBasBas.com is about my life abroad. I regularly write about my adventures in Istanbul, Bulgaria and travels in the region, but like to ponder about the future also. If you’d like to stay up to date, you can subscribe to my RSS feed or get email updates in your inbox. You can also follow me on Twitter.
Miro, a friend I made in Bulgaria, just sent all his friends on Facebook (including me) a dedication via a particular application. Apparently his song “What A Music” is now uploaded in there and while listening to it again, I realized just how much that song reminds me of Bulgaria.
I met Miro in the middle of November. Asya (sorry if it’s misspelt), a colleague of mine at the National Radio, gave me a call one day that she said she was still going to take me to a party. I had no recollection of this, but then again, when I met her at the Balkan Youth Festival, days were long and nights were drunk. She told me there was a CD presentation of the winner of the Bulgarian Pop Idol in a club in the centre and asked me to come along. I hesitated for a second, then told myself to just say yes. So I did.
We arrive… free booze! She runs off and starts talking to people and I’m kept busy with people who talk to me because I’m not from Bulgaria (and because they’re just as drunk as me, from the free booze). At some point after the CD presentation, Asya gets us into the ‘artists’ area and I meet some of the people there. They are getting restless and want to have a party somewhere. Asya leaves. I was told to come along, because it was going to be fun. Obviously, I was intimidated, so I went along – I would have rather been responsible and go home of course. Who likes parties anyway?
So uhhh, the next day I wake up with a massive hangover. Pictures I don’t remember, business cards I vaguely remember, and random entries in my phone. Names with no numbers, just the letter ‘E’ with a number. You know those nights where you’re too drunk to type the name and then in your mind you go “fuck it” and tell yourself you’ll just remember it? Yeah. You won’t. If you’re too drunk to type… you’re too drunk to remember. And also, you might take pictures of the Iranian embassy on your way home.
I remembered one business card that I got belonged to the producer of the CD of the girl who won. I was a bit intimidated… It’s not every day that I get the contact cards of a ‘celebrity’. If I think back to my thoughts at that time, they’re a bit ridiculous, but make a good story. So I think I emailed him or called him, I don’t remember. Added him to Skype and it turned out his studio was right around the corner from my apartment. Literally, not even 2 minutes from door to door. He invited me and I came over. He showed me his studio and his pride. We maintained our connection and were hanging out about once a week, I guess. One of the songs he let me hear when I first came ’round to his studio (correct me if I’m wrong Miro) is ‘What A Music’, the track I was just sent on Facebook.
Those times were strange. The Pop Idol party, sitting at the same table as Philip Kotler at a high tea-styled press conference with a panorama view of Sofia, meeting my current girlfriend… but also Sofia getting colder and the weather getting harsher and harsher. It was a moment of highs and lows, which makes the highs even more magical as they already were. And that’s what this song reminds me of. The song has a magical sound to it and reminds me of the magical times I had back in Bulgaria. Therefore, without further adue, I present to you the video of my friend Star Tattooed’s ‘What A Music’. Dedicated to everyone I met in Bulgaria!
Groove Armada, the famous big beat, electronica and trip-hop producers, are sharing their newest EP freely with their fans through a nifty downloading scheme. One of the guys from Groove Armada recently 